Dr. Alexander Melamed named as 2021 National Academy of Medicine fellow

The National Academy of Medicine has selected Alexander Melamed, MD, MPH as one of five physican scientists named as 2021 NAM Fellows. Fellows were selected based on their professional qualifications and accomplishments, scolarly reputation, and the relevance of their field expertise to the work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

Dr. Melamed was honored this year as the recipient of the Norman F. Gant/American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) Fellowship, which enables talented, early-career health science scholars in obstetrics and gynecology to participate actively in health- and medicine-related work of the National Academies and to further their careers as future leaders in the field. Dr. Melamed will receive a research grant to support his work, and will engage part time over a two-year period in the National Academies’ health and science policy work. Dr. Melamed will also work with an expert study committee an will contribute to reports and other products. 

“I am pleased to welcome these exceptional health science scholars into the NAM Fellowship program,” said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau. “Through this hands-on experience, not only will NAM fellows get to contribute to our process of providing health advice to the nation on complex challenges across a range of disciplines, but they will also have the opportunity to build a network of mentors whom they can call upon throughout their careers.”

Dr. Melamed is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. In addition to caring to providing medical and surgical care to patients with gynecologic cancer, he also conducts research into how variation in treatment affects cancer outcomes in the real world. His research interests and expertise center on harnessing “big data” to learn how we can improve surgical outcomes among women receiving treatment for gynecologic cancers. Specifically, his work has helped to define the role of minimally invasive surgery in gynecologic oncology and identified strategies that reduce unnecessary side effects in the treatment of ovarian cancer. These and other studies have been published in leading medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and BMJ. 

See the full list of fellows at the NAM's website.